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Forts, Mazes and More at Ramsey Eco-Active

Monday 9th January 2017

Great progress has been made at Ramsey Eco-Active building the play fort and now a wild maze. There's much more work to do and MWT could use your help.

Over the past few months MWT has been working in Claughbane Plantation, above the Elfin Glen Hairpin, to create a fabulous play fort for children, known as Ramsey Eco-Active. Volunteers from around the island have been hard at work clearing paths, building steps and at our most recent work party, we had over 30 volunteers come out to help build a wild maze.

‘It went brilliantly,’ said Andree Dubbeldam, project officer with the Manx Wildlife Trust. ‘There is no way we could have designed a maze like the one we have got now. ‘Even if we had paid a fortune for a consultant, we wouldn’t have ended up with a better design.’

We have felled an area of plantation conifers to create a half acre clearing in the forest which is now the site of the "Hazel Maze".

‘From now, the maze is open and usable,’ Andree said. ‘Only it’s not much of one yet until the plants grow, as you can see where you are going. And that’s not the point!’

Now that the maze is designed we will get working throughout January to build all the paths that have been laid out. We will invite families back again on the 12th of February to then plant hundreds of young hazel trees that will make the maze hedges and attract wildlife. We will also plant wildflowers like primroses and cow parsley along the path edges.

Andree Dubbeldam from Manx Wildlife Trust says ‘the maze and play fort should last for generations and will be as popular with woodland wildlife as it will be with children and the young at heart’.

A big thank you goes to Tesco’s ‘Bags of Help' for funding the work and to our contractors, Manx Marvel Gardens, who have gone the extra mile for us.

Please keep your eye on this space and our Facebook page for further updates.

Contact Andree on 07624 434251 for more details. Read more about the project here.